Chapter 2- Father/Daughter time
Charles sat at his desk in his office pouring over papers. It had been a week since Amanda's birth and even that couldn't stop the paperwork Charles had on new students. Charles found himself smiling. Charles loved his daughter dearly. Already Amanda had stolen everyone's heart at the school. She was the youngest mutant there and she had garnered the protection of everyone from her parents to little Tavie Reynolds who was only five and could breathe underwater like a fish.
Charles looked up as Moira came in with Amanda in her arms. "Charles, I'm going to the store. Can you watch Amanda?" Moira asked, settling the baby in his arms.
"Of course, love. Anything I need to know?" Charles asked as Amanda grasped his fingers and pulled them to her mouth to suck on them. For Amanda Xavier, her father was her favorite toy. Charles had realized the best policy was to allow her to treat his hand as a chew toy. For Amanda her father's fingers in her mouth was a kind of comfortable pacifier.
"She has already been fed and had a diaper change. She won't be going down for a nap for another hour or two. I should be back by then," Moira said, dropping a kiss on Amanda's and then Charles's head.
"All right, my love. Anything else?" Charles asked.
"Yeah. I need about 15 dollars," Moira said. Charles pulled a drawer out of his desk and pulled out a 20 dollar bill.
"Here you go, love," Charles said, handing her the money.
After giving the baby and Charles quick kisses Moira was gone. "Well, love, it's just you and me," Charles commented. The only response the baby gave was to grasp his hand tighter and suck at the digits in her toothless mouth while she stared at her father with such a ferocity that Moira had said couldn't be normal for most babies. She had said that most babies couldn't even focus that good after a week. Charles and Hank had had to remind her that Amanda wasn't a normal baby with her being a mutant like her father and everyone else at the school. For the moment Moira was the only human there and she had become a part of the group when she married Charles and had his daughter.
Charles smiled at his girl and gently kissed her forehead. Amanda made a soft baby sound that sounded content as she released his hand slightly to suck on another finger. Raven then came in. Raven wasn't in her human form. She was blue like she was when Charles first saw her when they were children and she had suited up in one of the uniforms that they wore when they went on missions. This usually meant that she and Hank were teaching a class as Mystique and Beast. "Charles, Scott, Jean, Ororo, and Kurt wanted you to come down to observe the class," Raven said, giving Amanda a smile. Amanda kicked her feet against her father's chest and chirped around Charles's finger; an act that never ceased to surprise Charles. How his girl could make sounds when her father's fingers were in her mouth was an oddity to him, but this was her way of saying hello to all the mutants she saw every day. The baby was also fascinated by Hank, Kurt, and Raven when she saw them blue.
"She's maturing at a fast rate, Charles," Raven said, brushing the baby's face gently.
"She is at that. It could be in her DNA. Hank said that if she's like any other child at this school she should learn very fast. I was reading books and understanding them by the time I was three," Charles said as Amanda gave little sounds of contentment.
"Why is that not so difficult to believe?" Raven asked teasingly.
"Very funny," Charles said with mock-severity, which he failed at miserably. Since Raven had been angry at him for years it was a relief that she wasn't anymore and was teasing him like she used to when she was almost like a daughter to him.
"It really isn't that unbelievable, Charles. If she's anything like you, she'll love books," Raven commented.
"Don't you have a class to teach?" Charles asked.
"Don't you want to come see it?" Raven evaded the question.
"All right. We'll be right there," Charles said as Raven left the room, followed by Charles and Amanda.